His Amazing Grace

Have you struggled with feeling loved by God? Do you doubt that He will help you? Do you feel that He is against you, not for you? Whatever your need is today, your solution is found in a greater revelation of the amazing grace of Jesus Christ.

Jesus came preaching GOOD NEWS, the “too-good-to-be-true news” that is absolutely true! Jesus is Truth, and He longs for you to awaken to His truth now, today. He wants you to understand who He is and what He has done for you that is SO AMAZING!

If you have received Jesus as your Lord and Savior and you have surrendered your life to Him and have asked Him to forgive you and cleanse you from your sins, then you are cleansed. In spite of all the ways you have fallen short of God’s glory (and we all have), God now sees you as righteous. He wants you to cease being sin-conscious so you can be righteousness-conscious.

You and I owe God a sin debt that we could never pay. But Jesus has already paid our debt. He even overpaid it so we can be debt free and no longer sin-conscious. God declares us righteous through Jesus’ shed blood. That’s what the Apostle Paul called being “justified by faith.” But how can we comprehend this and truly believe it? How was it that Jesus, who never sinned, willingly took on Himself the sin of the whole world? I call it “the great exchange.” He took our sin and gave us His righteousness.

The devil wants us to be self-conscious but God wants us to be Jesus-conscious. Turn away from his accusations and the focus this puts on yourself, and focus instead on Jesus. God no longer judges you on your own merits or failings. He has placed you in Christ and He now sees in you the beauty and perfection of Jesus. Isn’t that AMAZING?

The LAW was the Old Covenant, the long list of strict rules that God gave the Hebrew people to show them how far short they had fallen from His perfect plan for them. The Psalmist wrote to the Lord, “Do not bring your servant into judgment, for no one living is righteous before you.” (Psalm 143:2 NIV), and “If you, oh Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?” Psalm 130:3 NIV).

To atone for the sins of the people, the law required the sacrifice of live animals, which represented the earthly wealth of the Hebrews. A man’s wealth was measured by the size of his herds and flocks, and God said that to be forgiven of sin, a Hebrew must sacrifice the most perfect, spotless lamb, his most valuable possession of all.

But Jesus satisfied the law once and for all by dying willingly on the cross to atone for our sins. He was perfect, without sin, a “spotless Lamb.” By shedding His blood, Jesus paid the price God demanded for justice, and He brought to us the New Covenant. The Law was all about focusing on yourself and your sin. The New Covenant of grace is all about each of us focusing on and living in Jesus Christ. Through the grace of his Holy Spirit working within us, Jesus is forming His very likeness inside each of us as He transforms us from selfish, earthly beings into selfless, heavenly beings. And God now sees the likeness of Christ in us, through His AMAZING grace.

How do we get a greater revelation of Jesus’ love and grace for us? Do we read the Bible more? Do we pray harder? Do we fast more? The Pharisees committed to memorizing the Holy scripture, yet they failed to see God in the flesh standing before them. They also made sure everyone knew when they were fasting and would say their prayers loudly in public for others to see how “holy” they were. The disciplines of reading Scripture, praying and fasting are important, but if we focus on those things we can fall back into legalism and bondage. We won’t see who Jesus really is just by memorizing scripture or being “religious.” Revelation comes when we seek God in person and ask Him to reveal to us the truth of who He really is.

Now, God’s grace does not give us license to sin. The Apostle Paul preached freedom by grace, but listen to what he said to the Romans: “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” (Romans 6:1-2 NKJV) Paul is clearly saying that we must not continue in sin. Are you having trouble overcoming a sin, a bad habit you just can’t seem to break? Call upon Jesus to help you by His mercy and grace. One of my favorite verses from Paul’s writings is, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think…” (Ephesians 3:20 NKJV) To me, this says we can ask BIG and we can expect God to do BIG things when we ask. That is AMAZING! It helps to admit to God, “Lord, I can’t do this myself. I will stop trying in my own power and I choose to trust Your grace to help me.”

Maybe you have been struggling financially and you don’t see a way out of your situation. Paul told the believers in Philippi, “And my God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19) Why was Paul able to say this and believe it? Because He knew what Jesus blood had accomplished and he knew what His AMAZING grace meant not only for Paul, but for all of God’s people. This confidence in God’s provision is available to you also!

And don’t you think that His amazing grace is there for your pain and sickness as well? He shed His blood so that we can be healed and live well.
He took our sorrow and grief so that we can have joy and liberty of heart. His grace is complete, His grace is all sufficient for every one of our needs.

Call out to Him right now to help you. It is pointless to see yourself as never being good enough. You couldn’t earn salvation no matter how hard you tried. Refuse to believe the lie that God won’t help you or that God doesn’t love you until you become perfect. “But God shows His love for us in that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

His love for you is beyond the ability to understand. His love is never ending and without limits. And His gift of grace and forgiveness is FREE! He sent His only Son Jesus to die in your place so you can know your Creator and be loved by Him, and so you will never again be separated from Him by sin. Call upon the AMAZING grace of Jesus and be healed, changed, provided for and loved.

Dear Heavenly Father,

I thank you that you are my Father and that you sent Jesus to give me the AMAZING grace I so desperately need. Forgive me for struggling on my own and for not calling upon You and trusting You to meet my needs. I want this AMAZING grace and I want to experience your great love for me. I thank you that today my life is going to turn around and I’m going to walk in the freedom you have for me. I thank you for showing me truth today. In Jesus’ precious name, Amen.

Except as noted, all Scripture references are from the English Standard Version.

By Sherry McPherson  |  August 5, 2009 10:17 am